“SEO is a marketing function for sure, but it needs to be baked into a product, not slapped on like icing after the cake is baked.”

Duane Forrester

Social Media And College Students

Gen Y- 1980-2000, Gen X- 1965-1980, Boomers- 1946-1964 Seniors- <1964

In today’s world, technology is constantly evolving. Likewise, social applications and sites are evolving as well. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, and a million other social media sites are all transforming into the tools that our generation is using to our advantage. People that were born 10 years before us are kicking themselves in the butt because they don’t have the same opportunities that we do to network, connect with one another, and be productive.

For the college students of the world, social media is the norm. If you’re in college and you don’t have a Facebook account, chances are you’re not that cool. As students, we use sites like Facebook to look up who our roommates are before we move in or easily find people who we think are cute and then stalk them over the inter-webs. More importantly, we use this social site to connect with group mates from our classes or to build our online presence for future employers.

Why is this so special, you ask?

Because no other generation has had access to the tools that we have today. The last generation didn’t have YouTube to add depth to their presentations, nor did they have LinkedIn to connect in the business atmosphere. As the students of today and tomorrow, we have it easier than the students of yesteryear – everything is at our fingertips. Gathering useful and important information takes less than 30 seconds to compile, and leaves you sitting on top of a mountain of data that you didn’t have to spend hours upon hours collecting. We spend more time putting things to use than we do getting things ready to be put to use, causing more productivity and transformation to occur.

Because of the evolution of not only social media, but also information attainment, we as students are able to do things that no other generation has been able to do with the tools that we’re given. Innovation is becoming easier for students to learn and embrace. Professors can teach their students how to stay connected to the online world of information and students use this to create more change than any other generation has been able to harness. This consistency of evolution is turning into the way we live our lives.

We are always going to have to keep up with this evolution by consistently learning new techniques through social media. Things will always change; we should expect it. But that doesn’t mean we should stay back and wait for someone else to push us to keep up. I believe it’s safe to say that Facebook and Twitter will be completely different in a matter of a year’s time. In fact, they’ll be drastically different six months down the road because the people behind them are constantly working to make the social sites better. They’re not satisfied with the product that they have already produced. And we shouldn’t be either. Because of this, we need to always be promoting change. Change defines who we are as students and social media is always going to be evolving. So should we.

The point of what I’m trying to say is that college students like us are agents of change. We’re the catalysts of what the future is going to build off of. We shouldn’t be satisfied with what we’re already producing because things will change again, leaving us with no choice but to change the way that we do things too.

So be a learner forever. Embrace change. Build your future today. And always remember to keep up with the times because you never know how fast all of this evolution will take. But by remaining in stride with this, you’re setting yourself up for success.

Do you think the age 18-25 generation has a sizable advantage on older generations because of the Internet’s (and social media’s) fast paced evolution? What do you think social media sites will be like in 5-10 more years?

Robbie is a senior at Oakland University where he studies English and Literature. He is very active on campus, serving as Student Body VP and participating in a number of extra curricular clubs. After he graduates, Robbie plans to go on the graduate school and work in the Student Affairs/Higher Education field. He collects pens and enjoys the smell of freshly cut grass.

SEO and SEM are not competing services. SEO is considered a subset of SEM services. Today, if you want to conduct business on the Internet you need to be visible in both organic and advertised links, which means you need both SEO and SEM.

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